I did the unthinkable yesterday......

I went to an open home!

I have always just stalked a house on the net preferring to ogle from afar but yesterday was different.
The inspection time suited me - I dropped the boys at soccer and went for a chai latte at Swamp cafe then visited this home.

It has all the "I wants" in a house. It has 2 bathrooms, air conditioning, character, it is low set (single level, no stairs), brick, no lawn to mow, off street parking, big shed, polished floors.
It does need work - painting, kitchen, guttering and some minor alterations to get it to how we could best utilise the space.

It is on a main road, and that is not a negative either - I could run my business from there..... it is close to Mackenzie's school, bus route and shops, with a walk to the markets or Aurora Stadium.

Invermay has always been on my list of places to live - providing it is the dry side of Invermay.

So now I just have to convince Michael that this house is it..... hopefully he will get a look through this week.

If you saw Mackenzie you would wonder if he is mine.....

My children do not look like me. 

Madison is so much like her father - I didn't get a look in.

She has his legs (lucky for her), his eyes and nose and chin and widows peak (even though I have one), the only thing I may have contributed to is her boobs (and they are really hand me downs from her Nana).

Mackenzie is so much like his father - the only thing I

 may have had anything to do with is his nose!

He has gorgeous olive skin, dark eyes an athletic figure

 and ability (I joke and say he got this from me).

One thing both the kids seem to have got from me is their personality.

Madison can be quite shy sometimes (so can I - although some of you would be laughing right now) and other times she can be very confident and capable. She is happy to argue the point and can hold an adult conversation. She is the eccentric one (another hand me down from Nana) and comes up with some weird and wonderful ideas. She is forever telling me of her crazy dreams and is able to recall them in vivid detail.

She is brave enough (or stupid enough) to take off to Hobart without really knowing someone and makes friends and stays there for weeks. She has no idea how gorgeous she is and has the ability to look good in anything she wears.

Mackenzie is so much like me at times it is quite frustrating!

He is a Soccer Boot stalker on the internet. 

So he will spend hours trawling the websites of ALL Soccer Boot shops who deliver to Australia..... and I mean ALL. Then he will make you look at all the pairs he has picked out hoping you will buy a pair for him.

Last night on the way to the shops we went past a house that is for sale in Invermay. 

I said to Michael - "thats the house I have been stalking." He asks "how can you stalk a house?" 

Mackenzie answers - "on the internet Dad - just like me with Soccer Boots." 

We had to laugh. 

Michael said " I keep telling you that he is so much like you!"

Anyhow I had better do some work.... I may continue this theme later!

Letter to the Editor No.3

Amazing! So you have to pay someone from Sydney to assess the clock? Just because you have some complaints from a few Quest guests? I live in town and yes I have already voiced my opinion on this matter but I am also a business owner who relies on the tourist dollar to earn a living. The tourists who visit my shop always complain loudly about parking, the lack thereof of free parking and the cost to shop when you park in the city. So if you are going to consider silencing the clock how about stopping the parking fees that stop the many tourists visiting my shop and the CBD! Don't stop the clock for a few Hotel guests - stop the parking fees for the many hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit our City!

So.... in this market - is Rent to Own an option?

Just putting it out there!

I am so sick of the rental roundabout. Not that we have been doing it long but I am frustrated with the inability to improve the property.

On the mainland there are many options to Rent to Own. You can pay a high rent and a percentage of it becomes your deposit when you eventually purchase the property. I have been reading up on it a bit and I have devised my personal wish list of "Rent to Own"

• The house has to be habitable
• Pay market rent plus $1000 per month (as deposit)
• Agree on a purchase price and sign a contract accordingly (could be slightly inflated to reflect increases in property values)
• Settle within 2-3 years.
• be able to improve the property as we live there - achieving two things 1. hopefully an improved value creating more equity later and 2. making it ours
• be in Launceston or within an easy commute to the CBD

As previously confessed I am a realestate.com.au addict. Over the months of trawling the site I have seen regular homes remain on the market and are still on the market today. Some have been empty for all that time. There doesn't appear to be anything "wrong" with them ..... maybe they are a tad overpriced or lack some of the wanted space or convenience the buyers want. Maybe they need some TLC or are missing a perceived necessity like car parking - who knows but why isn't there an alternative to remaining vacant and unsold???

I am putting it out there because I want the opportunity, NOW, not in 3 years time when the business can show the figures the Banks want. Not when I have paid out more than a deposit in rent year after year and have nothing to show for it, surely there has to be a way.....